After more than two years of debate, Mobile passes an oil storage tank ordinance

What started in late 2013 with talks of a moratorium on the oil storage industry ended Tuesday with the Mobile City Council approving new regulations on businesses that operate the petrochemical tanks.

The regulations were endorsed in an ordinance described by industry leaders as "very unique" but also by environmentalists as something that required more scrutiny. And to a majority of council members, the ordinance was described as compromise that was neither "perfect" nor "pretty."

"This is not the Cadillac," said Councilman Levon Manzie following a more than two hour debate on the issue that came after a lengthy meeting on the topic last week. "I would not call it a Ford, at this point. But it will move us down the road and will give us an opportunity to observe how this process plays out."

With a 6-1 vote, the council approved a new ordinance regulating oil storage tanks that requires - among other things - for new developments to be 1,500 feet away from nearby residential properties.

The plan also includes a grandfather provision allowing existing companies within the Port of Mobile to replace or build new storage tanks on their existing properties without having to seek approval from the Mobile Planning Commission. It does not, however, forego the planning approval for new tank developments at adjoining property.

An additional requirement calls for the inclusion of a certified engineers report whenever a new tank project is proposed. The report goes above and beyond what a business has to submit to state and federal regulators.

"It puts a lot more burden on the industry," said Doug Anderson, attorney for the Planning Commission.

The new ordinance was viewed as a compromise agreement between leaders of local environmental groups such as Mobile Baykeeper and industry representatives affiliated with the Alabama State Port Authority and the Keep Mobile Growing coalition.

It culminated more than two years of community meetings and the work of an ad hoc advisory group that met throughout 2014 to help craft a new ordinance.

Casi Callaway, executive director of Baykeeper, said while the new regulations are far from perfect, "we think it beats the heck out of nothing."

She said some environmentalists remained upset over a lack of a clause requiring businesses to submit insurance policies protecting against oil spills. Also, she said that some remain upset over a lack of language mandating stricter air emission controls.

Overall, though, Callaway said she was pleased with the final product.

"We've worked on this for a long time ... I think we've made a major difference here," she said. "What we got (Tuesday) was a 1,500-foot setback from a property to a tank. That protects Africatown. We want to make sure new tanks being built weren't going to be able to go without any kind of review especially on the open pieces of property. We were OK with new tanks being built on existing parcels."

Steve Gordon, president of Keep Mobile Growing and general manager with Radcliff/Economy Marine Services - one of seven terminal operators in the Port of Mobile - said he supported the ordinance because it allows for existing businesses to continue operating as is.

"It allows industry to continue operating in our existing footprints," Gordon said. "And when opportunities arise to reconfigure our tanks (we can do it) without having to come back for Planning Commission approval."

Not everyone felt it was a good compromise. Councilwoman Bess Rich, the only "No" vote on the council, said the final agreement was titled toward favoring industry and lacked transparency. She said she felt that Keep Mobile Growing, after the ad hoc committee's work, played a major role in writing the ordinance.

Rich also suggested that a forthcoming review of the city's zoning code should have included an oil storage tank ordinance. The council, on Monday, agreed to spend nearly $600,000 with White & Smith LLC to review the city's zoning.

Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson, ahead of the vote, released a statement saying that the decision on regulating oil storage tanks and the contract for a zoning review should be independent of one another.

Dianne Irby, the city's director of planning and development, said that White & Smith's work will take two years and cannot start with picking and choosing specific ordinances for review.

Marie Dyson, a resident in the Church Street neighborhood, said she favored Rich's independent review proposal.

"Mobile has changed, but we're not changing the ways to do business to fit the changing times," Dyson said. We're piecemealing this thing. It doesn't really solve the problem ad we have an opportunity to do the right thing."

Those concerns surfaced after a lengthy public debate in Mobile in 2012 and 2013 over an oil pipeline that eventually was constructed through the Big Creek Lake watershed. The pipeline project, spearheaded by Plains Southcap, pushed the local Sierra Club and other environmental groups to scrutinize more industrial projects - such as the oil tanks.

The moratorium, viewed as unfriendly toward business, never went through. But the council, for the past two years, has placed a requirement for any new oil storage tank projects to come directly to them for consideration, and not to the Planning Commission.

No new projects have come forward. Gordon said the industry has slowed largely to depressed oil prices.